The last time I heard the Raptor was in the Grado v Senn days and it could swing the HD650 but low impedance Grado's were quite a bit higher on the pot for the same volume. LCD-3s are much more demanding than a Grado. So if not for the HD800, I wouldn't.

My other consideration is the Fostex AP-A8C which has high output (750 mW) and good midrange DAC. Probably still not enough power for a LCD3 so nothing special here. However footprint is small enough, and I can repurpose my Apogee miniDAC.

I have the same problem as undersys as I have very little room t work with, my B22 is too big that is why it's sitting in storage.

I'm looking at Ray Samuel's Emmeline II "The Raptor," now that is a footprint I can live with and store the power supply nearby. RS doesn't publish a lot of specs but I wonder how the LCD3 will sound with it, or am I better off with HD800.

Raptor is a really nice complement to the HD 800 (I had one for a couple of years), but the tubes it ships with are nothing to write home about, and good NOS 5687s aren't exactly thick on the ground (at least not in the USA).

Raptor is a really nice complement to the HD 800 (I had one for a couple of years), but the tubes it ships with are nothing to write home about, and good NOS 5687s aren't exactly thick on the ground (at least not in the USA).

Spec-wise, the Raptor should be great for the HD800 but not really so with the LCD-3.

Well, for starters, it's an OTL amp. Orthos generally don't work very well with OTL amps due to their low impedance and low sensitivity. OTL amps on the other hand are usually designed for high impedance, high sensitivity headphones, like the Sennheiser HD800.

Well, for starters, it's an OTL amp. Orthos generally don't work very well with OTL amps due to their low impedance and low sensitivity. OTL amps on the other hand are usually designed for high impedance, high sensitivity headphones, like the Sennheiser HD800.

Space is I just don't have the room, units in Hong Kong are stupidly small and given the price of them I won't be buying a bigger one any time soon :D
The Mjolnir is close to twice as wide, the Lyr at 9" wide is already a little to big but i can make it work..

I was also looking for a small footprint solution for my small bedroom, after all when I'm in the living room I'm gonna listen to my Dynaudio towers not headphones. But here in the bedroom headphones are king although there's not much room, so I bought a Burson Soloist and Audeze LCD3's. The Soloist is only 7inches wide and fits easily on the narrow shelf next to my bed. I'm driving it with a miniDAC which is also very small. For source material I am using my CD collection which is about 2500 CDs of mostly Japanese imports and gold CDs, played through a tabletop JVC CD player with optical output. I hope to upgrade to a nice CD transport if I can find one small enough.

The Soloist drives the LCD3's quite nicely, loud enough for hearing damage if you care to push it that high (I do not). You will not be sorry you bought it unless you have a thing for tubes, but you will never find a small tube amp that can drive the LCD3's.

Almost true. Soloist was my 2nd favourite LCD-3 amp. The Apex Peak, tube input, was my favourite. Just as small and a tube to roll to get exactly where you want. Personally liked the Hytron 5692 for the LCD-3.

I just the LCD 3s in today. I'm looking for some amp recommendations in the $500-1000 range. While I acknowledge that an expensive amp would do a better job at driving these, I really can't afford to drop that much cash on this right now.

I just the LCD 3s in today. I'm looking for some amp recommendations in the $500-1000 range. While I acknowledge that an expensive amp would do a better job at driving these, I really can't afford to drop that much cash on this right now.

I just the LCD 3s in today. I'm looking for some amp recommendations in the $500-1000 range. While I acknowledge that an expensive amp would do a better job at driving these, I really can't afford to drop that much cash on this right now.